Chapter 201: Back

As Hugh walked back to the platoon, he kept his attention on the guard at all times. He had to be alert and be a guard at all times.

He did not have any time or place to breathe a sigh of relief. This did not give him the result that he wanted.

As he saw the platoon, he first noticed the petite soldier at the very back of the line. Even when she was at the back, Hugh could recognize her form a mile away.

She was the only one who had a sense of balance and grade to her march, and it gave her the distinction that Hugh needed to recognize her.

Even though she had her helmet on her head, Hugh and Serena had eye contact with each other. Serena flinched, and the first thing that she wanted to do was go and run towards Hugh.

However, Serena realized that Hugh's expression was rattled. He did not seem very excited to come back. When she looked at Hugh's eyes, she saw that he looked to the side.

It was then that she noticed a guard following Hugh from a couple of steps back. It was then that she understood the predicament that Hugh had.

"Hu—platoon leader!" a soldier said as he walked towards Hugh.

The soldier almost slipped up and called Hugh by his real name, but Hugh gave him a sharp glare that told the soldier of his mistake.

"I'm back," Hugh said. He aligned towards the rest of the soldiers and gave them a sharp eye.

Everyone saluted back as they all looked at the guard behind Hugh with a side glance. As veterans, they knew that they were being watched.

They knew that a soldier was watching Hugh that they did it trust. This meant they had no choice but to stiffen up and pretend that they were still a part of this army.

This stifled their plans. Some of the soldiers were planning to visit some of their friends from different platoons and recruit them.

However, with this guard looking at them like a hawk, they had no choice but to remain vigilant.

"The commander has given us the privilege and honor to defend this army from an evil organization planning to hurt this army," Hugh stated.

The rest of the soldiers were nodding their heads and pretending to like the mission. They should act like they were angry at the opposing organization.

"We depart immediately," Hugh said.

He did not have the time to debrief the soldiers, with the guard looking over him at all times. He wanted to tell them the plan, but it seemed that they would have to go with this with no idea of what was happening.

Hugh took one last look at Serena before he turned around and walked towards the very back of the line.

Serena understood the implication from Hugh's look, so she promptly followed him there. However, she made sure that the guard did not see her.

As Hugh went over towards a secluded area, he turned around and looked at the guard in the eyes.

"are you going to follow me as I relieve myself?" Hugh asked with the offense.

The guard looked at Hugh with suspiciousness but soon turned away and let Hugh by himself. There was still a sense of privacy that a soldier was given.

However, Hugh knew that he did not have the luxury to stay still. If he stayed behind for too long, then the guard would be suspicious.

So, he has to think of something else. Then, he remembered that he still had Beru.

First, Hugh took the platoon leader's skin away from his body. Soon enough, she fats, and his average body returned to normal.

His skin had finally gotten a taste of the fresh air. It had been too long, and it had given him a sense of appreciation for his own body.

He shook his head and woke himself up from the trance of the sense of relief. Then, he talked down towards the excess skin.

"Beru," Hugh called out. However, there was no response.

"Beru!"

Finally, the skin had soon turned into the full wolf-dog that he had always thought was cute. Being skinned felt weird, and Beru was happy being back to his adorable self.

"Good boy," Hugh said as he rubbed Beru's head.

"Can you transform into me?" Hugh asked.

Then, Beru nodded his head furiously, with his tail wagging in his back. He seemed to be enthusiastic about the fact that he would impersonate his owner.

"Okay, follow my instructions carefully, ok?" Hugh said as he looked at Beru.

Then, Beru titled his head.

After a while, the guard thought it was finally time for the platoon leader to come out. However, there was no sign of him yet.

Just as the guard was about to come and look at the platoon leader, he saw someone come out of the woods.

It was the platoon leader. The platoon leader looked at the guard and smiled at him. The guard was caught off guard by the smile and flinched.

For some reason, the platoon leader had just smiled at him. This was weird since their hostility between each other was clear from the very start.

Then, the platoon leader walked past the guard and looked over the soldiers without mentioning a single word.

The guard thought that the platoon leader was doing something weird in the woods, but it seemed like he just imagined it.

Meanwhile, in the woods, Hugh and Serena finally get back together after a while. On the one hand, Hugh and Serena were glad to see someone they had known for a long time.

Being with propelling not from their world was weird. Therefore, they both cherished each other's presence in this army.

They would both express this happiness if it were not because it was awkward between the two of them. A godlike being had promised a fate intertwined between the two of them.

Also, whenever they were alone together, there would inevitably be a weird moment between each other. However, they need to talk about something.

"So? How was being the right hand of a tyrannical commander like?" Serena said with a lighthearted tone to break the ice.

"Oh, you know. Pressure here, pressure there," Hugh replied

Then, it was silence once again. They did not know how to talk to each other since they knew that they were awkward.

"Ahem…about the guard," Serena uttered, trying to break the ice once again.

"He's someone I got stuck with. It's a wrench in the plans, but we go along with it," Hugh said with a severe expression.

Then, it was silence again.

"The Shark Loan company is trying to stop the army, but I don't know why," Hugh uttered, being the one to break the ice this time.

"That company? The one who took Mia after Miser could not pay the debt?" Serena asked.

Hugh nodded.

Two seemingly evil groups seemed to be at odds with each other. Serena got the idea immediately as she looked up at Hugh.

"We could use that," Serena said with enthusiasm at her voice. After being at the very end of the stick for the longest time, they finally got a hand.

"That's why we are going to be the one to stop the Shark Loan company in their next attack," Hugh said.

However, Serena did not seem to understand why Hugh thought this way.

"Shouldn't we just let them fight against each other?" Serena asked.

"We don't know their plans. We should confront them, know their plans, and we'll go from there," Hugh said.

"Ahhh…if our plan aligns, then we could be a double agent for the Shark Loan company," Serena said as she looked down and thought deeply.

"Be careful," Serena uttered. Although Hugh's plans seemed to be very effective, one wrong move could gather the ire of both organizations.

"I know," Hugh said.

"What do you want us to do?" Serena asked.

"When we confront the Shark Loan company, distract the guard, and I can interrogate the company," Hugh said.

Serena nodded. It was a simple enough mission. She could quickly spread this mission to the soldiers since the guard's attention would not be on her.

"You go on first," Hugh said. "I'll have to turn back into the platoon leader again."

Serena nodded and sneaked out of the bushes. Score her friend away wholly; she looked back at Hugh.

"I know," Hugh said with a smile on his face.

Serena smiled, knowing that Hugh knew what she was going to say. Then, Hugh also looked at her.

"I know," she replied.

It looked like Hugh's silent eyes seemed to have conveyed the correct meaning that Hugh wanted to imply.

Even though their whole fate situation had made them awkward, it had also made them grow closer together. They just did not know if that was good yet or would eventually go bad.